HAYES, England, Sept. 23 -- UK-based display company CRL Opto Ltd. has made an agreement with Optogone S.A., a French liquid crystal technology developer, to market products for the optical telecommunications industry. CRL Opto said it will develop a programmable optical device capable of operating in the telecoms environment, using its ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (FLCOS) technology. Optogone plans to incorporate the new device in optical switching systems that are capable of quickly and efficiently routing data. The companies said the device will be more reliable and compact and will cost less than those now on the market. The optical element that performs the optical routing of the infrared (IR) light used in optical communication is based on a modified version of CRL Opto's FLCOS microdisplay, with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels (SXGA). The standard SXGA microdisplay is tuned to work in the visible wavelength range, whereas the new device is tuned to operate at 1550 nm, or the wavelength of IR light used in optical communication. Rather than producing a readable image, the new device provides a holographic element that will change the direction of the 1550 nm light. These modifications will require a change in the basic ferroelectric liquid crystal cell technology, the companies said. For more information, visit: www.optogone.com or www.crlopto.com